Etta James might not have come from the Mississippi Delta – she grew up Los Angeles and came of age in San Francisco – but she was a bona fide blues belter.

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Chicago blues and soul man Lou Pride recorded this Northern Soul favourite after moving down south to El Paso in 1972.

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The second single by The Bee Gees back in 1967 was originally written for their mentor Robert Stigwood and intended for Otis Redding to record.

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I have to confess I’ve been a bit late getting into Michael Kiwanuka. Which is strange, because I saw one of his very first shows.

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Garnet Mimms is the guy who sang the original version of Cry Baby, better known (to me, at least) for Janis Joplin’s overwrought version, back in 1963.

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Happy Hallowe’en folks! And nothing says Hallowe’en like a Northern Soul banger with a spooky title.

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“You got to have a J-O-B if you wanna be with me… No romance without finance.” This is one of the finest funk and soul singles of all time – despite its far-from-feminist materialistic message; it was the ’80s after all. (more…)

Moving on from yesterday’s Ray Charles post, but not completely… in the early ’50s he went down to New Orleans to work with Guitar Slim, and this was the result.

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I’ve heard this song by Marvin, I’ve heard it by Dusty and I’ve heard it by the Stones, but until now I’d never heard it by Barbara til now. In fact I’d never heard of Barbara Randolph at all.

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And then they were three… Tito Jackson’s death, at the age of 70, leaves the Jackson 5 down to a trio of Jermaine, Jackie and Marlon.

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